fr_ap

We had an extra defender in the squad on the weekend and whilst I like it, if Hibbo's Achilles is not ready he's the clear out for kossie - with perhaps rivers not coming as high up the ground as he did against Sydney (which would be a shame as I really like him further up, was terrific on the weekend and is going under the radar)

Pretty clearly says hopefully mate

Nah we got given some too. People who say umpires don't influence games have NFI. In the 2nd and early 3rd when they were coming, the free kick count was disproportionately in their favour and they were getting some really questionable ones. In the first and last, we got quite a few very impactful and questionable frees. When they're given consecutively it does really change the momentum of games. If you get 3-5 in a row it's as if you won 3-5 key one on one contests - like a hard ball in a pack, a contested mark i50, or a 1v1 win in D50. It's not the reason we won or the reason they lost, but it does have an influence.

Pretty rich tbh of some of you to talk nonsense about the saints being rubbish forever. We were in the same position only 3 years ago and should have sympathy. They're playing brilliantly with an enormous injury list. To the point where I'm not sure I would be bringing players back (other than Steele) once they are healthy...this collective buy in and balance is so hard to capture. Their only concern would be how early it is to be humming this well. But in the very least they should now be aiming for top 6. If we don't win it this year, I hope they do.

He's also coming off 12 months of no footy & it was commented on here a number of times in pre-season how far behind the other big guys he is in running drills at training. Like labouring really far behind. His 2nd half was much improved against Brisbane but again, we need to temper expectations. He's not Gawn and won't play like it - either on the ground, in transition, in the ruck or in the air. Pies fans were very clear at the time of the trade that his major shortcoming is that he is very limited in the air (let alone taking marks, he really struggles to contest to bring it to ground as its a different type of strength profile to down-low). This can be overcome if you have enough contested marking players elsewhere around the ground to make use of BGs different strengths elsewhere. It can't be overcome if you expect him to provide the same presence that Gawn has provided as nigh on the best contested mark in the league over the last 5 years.

Watch Hayden McClean take his mantle...I can feel it

He's not a marking player, I don't know how many times this needs to be repeated. Collingwood fans know it all too well. Any expectation that he's going to take 5+ marks a game with a good % contested is just wrong - he's not that player and at 28 he's not going to be.

Not sure I entirely agree with this logic (bolded part) If we had come out and smashed two middling/lower teams we'd be loving life and super confident right now. Fact is - only the very good/best teams consistently smash the teams they should. What would make it more difficult to get a read on their form is if they beat both by 10-20, which would indicate they weren't functioning at a top 4 level. But that's not what happened. As it is, the magnitude and manner of their wins are indicative of their quality - which is that of a top 4 side. It's not hard to tell how good they are - they're clearly very good, as they were last year. They may even be better now, as a young side with continued growth and very few veterans getting to the feared 31/32 mark other than Buddy (who they were without in any case). Without Buddy, Mcdonald and Amartey combined for close to 10 goals. We know how tough, dynamic and accountable their midfield is. We should not be taking any confidence from them 'only' smashing GCS and Hawthorn. It's what the best teams do. Separately on us - I have a niggling concern that something we have changed - game plan or mindset wise - has resulted in far less accountability from our mids both at stoppage and in transition. I thought it was very obvious in the Dogs game that Treloar/Mcrae/etc were running relatively unchecked in transition. Repeatedly. It was extremely obvious during the period they were on top. For whatever reason, it ultimately didn't hurt us too badly as the Dogs were hesitant with the ball. It then clearly happened again vs the Lions - even worse - the Brisbane midfield appeared to play entirely unchecked for the majority of the night. At clearance, at stoppage and in transition. At different times, neither felt like Dees games and I felt more uncomfortable (yes, including the Dogs game even though we got on top) than I have since 2020. I can't quite put my finger on it but I wonder if in trying to have a little more dare and respond to the flavour of the month - attacking footy, Collingwood etc. - we've lost the balance that's served us well now for some time. If I'm right, the Swans (who have the most accountable midfield going round) will be a big reality check (and potentially, a really sizable loss). Don't hate on this btw - sky is not falling, far from it - but I can just feel something is a little awry...

There is something true to all walks of life about the Jackson trade - rarely do people who achieve significant emotional (premiership, fulfilment, contentedness) & financial success at a very young age go on to even better things. It's the reason child actors seem to inevitably go off the rails, happens in the Corporate world all too often and especially with junior sportsmen who very quickly achieve what they always dream of. There are exceptions of course - Joel Selwood would be one -but he has clearly always been driven by something internal (competitiveness, pride, a chip on the shoulder?) rather than external factors. All professionals need to be self-motivated - they'd never make it to the grade otherwise, but there would be degrees of it. Jackson is physically gifted, but could have picked basketball, and achieved plaudits, success and now money in his preferred environment very young. There is something to be said for the journey and discovery of delayed gratification. IMO those close to him have misguided him and selected short term outcomes over long. Nonetheless he has all the tools and I wish him well long term....but not so much this year for our draft hand sake! There are many other examples in the AFL of a newly hyped player achieving enormous success/money only to fail to carve out a long term career. Boyd, Patto, Hogan, you can keep going

It's actually a good presser. Helped me come to terms with it all. Worth watching that and tracks interview on the MFC website

Wouldn't count your lucky stars yet....Grundy hasn't played in 12 months and has been injury prone in the latter half of his career. If he shoulders the full load I don't have a lot of faith he'd last beyond about round 6 Schache is just about the only option we have

Given his height and age, if it's a medical we're probably looking at 8-12 weeks. If an ACL we all know how long. Either way, we're going to have to figure out how to play without him for a while, so let's talk about that. Do they pull the trigger on Schache? I thought Tom's ruckwork was very poor and directly cost us quite a few goals. Brodie will get better but he's a different player to Max and is not going to give us the contested marking presence we need. Not sure Schache takes a strong contested mark either. Max is irreplaceable but we will need to do something. Is KFW too raw? He seems further progressed than Verrall. I think Schache will come in for Gawn and they'll try to persist with Tom up forward until he either finds form or JVR kicks him out.

May out for 2 games, gawn out for one and Tom a bit lame. They are basically all our contested marking players

Pretty deplorable performance all round, hard to find a winner anywhere. Looked slow, reactive and the most bruise free I've seen us in years. Not sure why our tough midfield decided to basically white flag it. A shame on Gawn either way but honestly you can't tell me one player getting injured is a sufficient reason to basically give up, which it looked like the midfield did for large parts of the game. Some of the overconfidence on here today was genuinely ridiculous against a team that knocked us out last year, rarely loses at the Gabba and had a huge point to prove after a horror showing last week Worst I've seen us play since 2019

Jon Ralph saying Tommo a very good chance to take May's spot

Fair enough and don't want to distract from the point on Judd. Was indeed a good debut. Interested to see his lockdown capabilities. I can see him getting Charlie Cameron this week which is equal parts exciting and terrifying

? Petty's debut is widely regarded as one of the worst ever.

100% - the amount of Geelong fans commenting tells you how worried they are about him Witch hunt well and truly on

Sorry but this is just wrong. His disposal barely improved in several years on the list - he's a real butcher. As in, was the worst kick on our list. It was not close to anyone else on the list aside from maybe our lumbering rucks. He's a busy, high metres gained player and maybe the dogs are pleased with that. But ultimately he will need to hit targets in this game, another, or crucial finals and he'd be close to the worst amongst all starting 22s at doing so. He may have improved over the dogs off season and I wish him well (not too well against us!). But it was the right time to move him on.

One thing about him is he gets a lot of shots at goal. He only needs a night where they stick to really cement his place. He's much more capable of a bag of goals than Spargo for example. I hope he doesn't try to take on too many though. I'm also conscious his pressure off the ball isn't at the Spargo or anb or Pickett level.

Gee whiz not sure we'd deal with the attacking threat (or replicate it ourselves) of either of these teams

May's clearly injured his calfstring guys don't ask too many questions

Couldn't agree more.

Awful game, Rioli a cut above every other player on the field. The AA half back so far.

Correct. This notion that they're lumbering oafs is ridiculous. In fact, that more accurately describes gawn or Grundy when resting forward